U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484 
Fax: +92-51-2211 450 
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 01
1 - 7 January 2005


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: NGOs victims of growing criminality
AFGHANISTAN: The challenge of dismantling irregular militias
AFGHANISTAN: UN to deal with ammunition stockpiles
CENTRAL ASIA: Chronology of key humanitarian developments in the region,
   2004 - Part I
CENTRAL ASIA: Soros Foundation to continue despite setbacks
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
IRAN: Special report on Bam - one year after the devastating earthquake
KAZAKHSTAN: MSM group works to raise HIV awareness
KAZAKHSTAN: River Syrdarya bursts its banks in Kzyl-Orda
KYRGYZSTAN: Further reduction of TB requires poverty alleviation,
   observers say
PAKISTAN: Relief for Indonesians caught in tsunami aftermath
PAKISTAN: Activists sceptical about new law designed to reduce honour
   killings
PAKISTAN: Consultations to reform Christian inheritance law
TURKMENISTAN: Seven mosques destroyed in one year, activists say


AFGHANISTAN: NGOs victims of growing criminality

Aid workers in the capital Kabul have raised concern about the increase 
in violent attacks on aid agencies over the last couple of months. In 
just four weeks, several NGOs have been targeted by gunmen and criminals 
in the capital.

"It is shocking that even in the capital, with thousands of 
international peacekeepers present, NGOs come under violent attack," Lal 
Gul, the head of the Afghan Commission for Human Rights (ACHR) told IRIN 
on Wednesday.

Full report


AFGHANISTAN: The challenge of dismantling irregular militias

Tens of thousands of irregular militia groups will be disarmed through a 
new joint United Nations and government initiative, officials from the 
Afghan Ministry of Defence (MOD) told IRIN on Tuesday. Although more 
than 30,000 of an estimated 60,000 Afghan ex-combatants have already 
been assisted by the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation and 
Reintegration (DDR) programme, MOD officials believe there are still 
irregular armed groups and individuals that are not linked to known 
militia forces and which operate privately.

Full report


AFGHANISTAN: UN to deal with ammunition stockpiles

More than 100,000 mt of ammunition will be collected from across the 
country under a new programme, the United Nations backed Afghanistan New 
Beginnings Programme (ANBP) confirmed to IRIN on Monday. Although a huge 
programme of heavy weapons' collection, disarmament of militia forces 
and land mine clearance is already under way, the existence of such a 
sheer quantity of ammunition stockpiles is another major challenge for 
the post-conflict country.

Full report


CENTRAL ASIA: Chronology of key humanitarian developments in the region, 
2004 - Part I

The following is a complete chronology of humanitarian events and news 
items impacting Central Asia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran for the 
year 2004. To continue, clink onto the following URL and chose the month 
you wish you view.

Full report


CENTRAL ASIA: Soros Foundation to continue despite setbacks

The Soros Foundation has said it will continue its work in the region 
and has dismissed suggestions it was suffering from an image problem 
with the authorities in Central Asia, where three out of four of its 
country-based foundations have encountered difficulties in their 
operations. "I don't really feel it's a public relations problem. I 
can't really speculate on the nature of an authoritarian regime or its 
reactions," Laura Silber, senior policy adviser for the Soros Foundation 
and Open Society Institute (OSI), told IRIN from New York.

Full report


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia began with more reports of torture and human 
rights abuses in Uzbekistan, with two local rights groups on Monday 
saying that an Uzbek man had been tortured to death. The independent 
rights group, Ezgulik, and the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) 
claimed that Samandar Umarov, 35, who had been serving a 17-year prison 
sentence for belonging to the outlawed Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir, had 
been tortured to death in a prison in the eastern Navoiy province on 
Sunday.

Full report


IRAN: Special report on Bam - one year after the devastating earthquake

A year after an earthquake that killed at least 30,000 people in just 
seconds, and on the surface not much has changed. The mangled remains of 
a lost city are strewn across this once-fertile desert oasis. Debris, 
rubble and twisted metal girders are still piled high on every street 
and down every alley, almost untouched since the earthquake struck on 26 
December 2003. Around them are date trees and a few half collapsed 
buildings stubbornly standing, precariously lopsided.

Full report


KAZAKHSTAN: MSM group works to raise HIV awareness

Raising HIV awareness is no easy task, particularly amongst Kazakhstan's 
largely closeted gay community. But in a campaign aimed at doing just 
that, one local NGO is looking towards the Internet to reach members of 
the MSM community (men who have sex with men). "This is a collective 
opportunity to share information on the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst the 
MSM community - not just in Kazakhstan, but throughout Central Asia," 
Igor Galkin, president of the Kazakh NGO Alliance, currently the only 
NGO working on the issue of MSM and HIV in the commercial capital, 
Almaty, told IRIN.

Full report


KAZAKHSTAN: River Syrdarya bursts its banks in Kzyl-Orda

Warm weather caused the Syrdarya river to burst its banks in southern 
Kazakhstan on Tuesday, although no settlements in the area were 
affected, the emergency agency of Kazakhstan said on Thursday. 
"Currently the situation is under control and routine water discharge 
[from the Chardara reservoir upstream], which is now 700 cu m per 
second, is under way," Kayrat Tarbaev, a spokesman for the emergency 
agency, told IRIN from the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Thursday.

Full report


KYRGYZSTAN: Further reduction of TB requires poverty alleviation, 
observers say

Most observers equate the persistence of tuberculosis (TB) in Kyrgyzstan 
with high levels of poverty. "TB, by its nature, is a social disease, 
and its the reduction depends not only on medical treatment but also on 
how well poverty is alleviated," the deputy director of the National 
Centre of Physiology (NCP), the institute responsible for the fight 
against TB, Myrzahat Imanaliev, told IRIN. While there have been some 
signs of a reduction in the number of new TB cases in recent years, the 
disease continues to remain a major health concern in the country. Of 
its five million inhabitants, those in rural areas and the state's 
overcrowded prisons are most at risk.

Full report


PAKISTAN: Relief for Indonesians caught in tsunami aftermath

Pakistan dispatched the first part of a taskforce of about 250 army 
personnel to parts of devastated Indonesia on Monday, in two C-130 
aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). "The taskforce assigned for 
Indonesia, includes about 160 army engineers and a 50-bed field 
hospital. The deployment of all the personnel will be completed within 
the next six days while the heavy equipment is being transported by sea 
in navy ships," an official from the Inter-Services Public Relations 
(ISPR)office told IRIN, from the city of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the 
Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Full report


PAKISTAN: Activists sceptical about new law designed to reduce honour 
killings

Pakistani President General Musharraf on Tuesday gave his assent to a 
bill setting out enhanced punishment for honour crimes - usually carried 
out against women and girls who "offend the honour of the family". But 
women's rights activists are not convinced the law will have any impact 
on the widespread problem. "It won't make any difference. It has just 
increased the punishment to 25 years in prison, but that remains 
discretionary," Sadia Mumtaz, coordinator of the Legislative Watch 
Programme (LWP) of the women's rights body, Aurat Foundation, told IRIN 
in the capital Islamabad.

Full report


PAKISTAN: Consultations to reform Christian inheritance law

The Committee for Justice and Peace (CJP), a minority rights NGO, is 
holding consultations to amend the Succession Act of 1925 that governs 
how Christians in Pakistan inherit property, money and goods. "This 
consultation, in particular, is focusing on the share Christian women 
get when it comes to inheritance, as women are generally denied their 
right by male members of their family," Naeem Shakir, head of CJP, told 
IRIN from the eastern city of Lahore. Half of the roughly 10 million 
Christians in Pakistan are female.

Full report


TURKMENISTAN: Seven mosques destroyed in one year, activists say

Efforts to curtail religious freedom in the reclusive oil-rich state of 
Turkmenistan continue, with at least seven mosques demolished in 2004 
alone, activists told IRIN on Wednesday. "By destroying mosques - as 
well as a Christian church and Hare Krishna temples, as was done in the 
past - the Turkmen government is demonstrating its contempt for the 
rights of believers of different faiths to maintain their own places of 
worship where they can pray freely in the way they wish to," Felix 
Corley, editor of Forum 18 News Service, told IRIN from London on 
Wednesday.

Full report


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Asia                               www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/casia